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About 500 plush dogs and cats are spread out with help from Lackawanna County Sheriff’s Department Cpl. Corey Cavalieri on Thursday at the Aaron Center in Dickson City, with more stuffed animals to be donated in the next few weeks.
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On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, Joseph P. McDonald manned the switchboard at Fort Shafter in Hawaii when he received the alarming message that radar had detected a large number of planes approaching from the north, heading fast for Oahu.
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A 10-month-old boy remained in critical condition Thursday as court documents suggested the Jermyn man accused of beating the child has been violent before.

Police charged Eddie Widdick, 23, 1 F Henry Drive, with aggravated assault and child endangerment Wednesday after police discovered the infant had brain injuries, a fractured rib and multiple bruises. Mr. Widdick admitted he dropped the infant down a flight of steps at Rear 417 Delaware Ave. and was forceful when he put the child into a crib, according to a criminal complaint. He waited seven minutes to call 911 because he did not want to "get in trouble."

"The baby's not breathing right, and I didn't do it," Mr. Widdick said when he called his girlfriend, Ashley Nelson, according to the complaint.

Mr. Widdick had a protection-from-abuse order filed against him in February 2013 by a former girlfriend who said Mr. Widdick threatened to kill her if she broke up with him. She was forced to move in with him, then took a week off from work to make sure she did not leave the house.

He was angry with her because she wanted to take a nap one day shortly before the PFA was filed.

"He started throwing things, pushing me," she wrote in the PFA. "He hit my forehead, kicked me on my legs, slammed my head into a wall and slammed my body into the front door."

The PFA order was imposed Feb. 15, 2013, and expired one year later.

The child abuse investigation is continuing and Mr. Widdick's prior history will be part of it, Lackawanna County Deputy District Attorney Jennifer McCambridge said.

Lackawanna County Children and Youth Services removed the other six children who lived there from the home. Five children under the age of 13 had bruising as well.

Ms. Nelson was out with one of the children at the time. She has not been charged.

Contact the writer: jkohut@timesshamrock.com, @jkohutTT on Twitter

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